MarkDobson

thanks guys, as for the major question, yes there are TWO holes lol, the second one is hidden by the hook. (i need to work on my photography ) i think the vertical you guys are seeing is the scroll on the end of the hook. as for the railroad spike itself, i actually drew out the head into the hook because it was a piece i had messed up (long story short, i tried making bolt tongs and screwed them up pretty early on and it was the perfect start to this project) then i cut off the hook and forged the tenon on it. then i used what was left which happened to be the bottom half (the pointy bit) of the spike for the back plate. that resulted in the end being narrower than the rest of the plat and thus why i decided to taper the ends to points. unfortunately it lost all identity to its previous life but on the other hand i took a previously failed project i had sitting on my forge and turned it into something useful, and got to get outa the house for a little bit and have some fun edit: here is a better pick of the back plate

the other day i was watching one of joeys older videos where he made a plant hanger from 1 railroad spike and figured since today was a half way decent day (for January anyways lol) id give it a try. for a first go i think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt, still needs wire brushed and finished.

update time! i finally got to test it out on a doe i got on the second to last day of PA rifle season, worked great and held its edge. was still razor sharp after i was done gutting the deer

whats funny is i actually thought about doing that but when i started i went and modeled my jaws after a set of tongs we had laying around and completely forgot about making the spikes until after i gave them a test run and realized that it would really help holding onto the logs if i would've put points on them.

nice anvil. the reason you lose rebound behind the hardy is because you dont have as much mass under the heel. no pritchel means its pretty old, if i remember correctly that means is pre 1850's or earlier. im sure one of the guys with more knowledge on anvils will correct me if my date is off

i hope he does, and your definitely right about the rivet being to close to the jaws, im thinking the next set i make i will rivet them just about in the middle

so this is my first attempt at trying to make a set of fire tongs, they are a christmas present for my dad. figured since we cant find 36inch tongs anywhere id try and make some. i started with 6 pieces of 1/2" 1045 about 12in long and welded them together with an arc welder. then forged, took me way longer than it should have and they still arnt perfect. hopefully i will make a jig for the next set i make haha. i still have to wire brush and finish them ignore the black water in the bucket a bunch of leaves got in it and i didnt get a chance to change the water

well we are getting close to Christmas so you could always ask family and friends what they would like and then make it. get two birds with 1 stone that way, A Christmas present and motivation. whenever i lose motivation but want to forge i end up making tooling or woodworking tools, froes, chisels, carving knives etc etc. they make great gifts for a wood worker (my dad), keep me busy and can be made easily with materials i already have on hand.

looks like an english pattern anvil and appears to have a decent face and edges. as long as the rebound is good id have no problems picking it up(for cheap). if nothing else when you get a better anvil you can use this one as an upsetting block. just make sure you use the broken heel and horn as a HUGE negotiating point. im not sure what anvils in that condition usually go for but i wouldnt want to spend too much on it.

way back in the day they didnt have the ability to make a quality iron screw box (that was affordable) so they were cast from brass. this was a cheaper and more familiar technique. even later vises tended to have the threads brazed in as apposed to machined from one block of iron. i (and im sure others) wouldnt hesitate to buy a vise with a brass screw box as long as the threads where in good shape.

hey if they think its a no good ASO just use that as your bargaining point. might be able to get it really cheap because of what some collector said. i know id be all over it in a heart beat if it was in my area.

looks like a nice used but not abused English anvil. probably a mousehole or wilkinson. has nice edges and as long as it has halfway decent rebound (do a ballbearing test) id say buy it

nope, no pumpkin slaughter yet :(, just wedged it onto a sledge hammer handle to try it out and rough out a handle blank (and of course test the spike on some wood ). unfortunatly i got side tract from the handle today, had to drop the rack and pinion out of my dads truck. hopefully i can get that fixed this week and then return to handle making. then i guess im gunna have to fire up the forge and make another one for me, i can see these being really addictive to make haha. ive never had the pleasure of working with something that has a HC bit in a mild body, was really cool being able to see and feel the difference between the two metals when i was grinding on it.

thanks, and heres a pic of the eye, i think i made more of an axe drift rather than a tomahawk drift but it seems like it should work. i had some trouble getting the weld to stick in the spike (where it meets with the eye) so i ended up arc welding it. guess we will see how it holds up. if anyone has any tips on the welding please share lol. this is also the first bit of forge welding ive done for a project that i actually finished.

alright so this weekend i figured id try and make my dad a spike hawk since he has been asking me to make him one. i shoulda took more pics as i was going but owell. i started with a bracket from a chair that was about 1/4x2 inch and maybe 11 inches long. i made a bowtie shape then folded it over and welded the back half to make the spike then welded the front partially and added a piece of leafspring for the bit. im pretty happy with how this turned out, just gotta make a handle, had it mounted on a temporary handle to test it out and was very pleased with how it turned out. holds and endge really well and didnt chip at all while i was using it

replace every time i say grind with bevel, i was filing the bevel into the blade, dont know why i kept saying grind, i obviously need to work on my terminology :/

yup i was curious if anyone would recognize it. not sure what dad is gunna do with it but seeing as he got it when he was a kid i gave it back to him. i thought it was a cool find

actually managed to get some cool stuff today, was at my grandmothers today and she let me pick through some of the stuff that is in the garage before we tare it down. some things i didnt get home today(or pictured) include some 10 inch pipe so i can make a hood for my forge, 3 large pipe threaders and about 50 glass 1 gallon jugs a bloens 1250 and some other misc stuff.

i actually used the same "bevel" jig to bevel my last knife and i think it worked pretty good. im sure, as thomas said, drawfiling will be quicker but with the jig it makes it easier to set a consistent grind and plunge line, my previous knife i draw filed and wasnt very happy with the grind for this reason. filing the grind also really lit a fire under my butt to get my 2x72 built, have all the stuff except for the spring just have to find the time to make it.

alright so a little update, i sharpened it and then decided to do a mustard patina on the blade(i should have sharpend last ). i also made my first kydex sheath, it took a couple tries to get it somewhat right and im pretty happy with it as of now (im going to clean up the edges on a belt sander when i get access to it). i also christened it by slicing my finger open on it while cleaning the third and final coat of mustard off of it. now i just have to make a belt loop and try it out....on something besides my finger lol

i dont see a problem using the plain wood for a knife handle, if its a user/ going to take some abuse there is no reason to spend money on nice wood. Now if you just happen to stumble into some nice wood like i do most times when cutting trees, splitting firewood, milling lumber etc etc then save it all and you will have a nice stock pile for whatever you desire. most of my beginning knives have figured walnut scales purely because it was already the perfect size and left over from other projects. cant wait to see what you do with it, looks like its gunna turn out really nice

its very hard to give you a specific brand without pictures so i would recommend doing a rebound test. this will give you a general idea as to whether its an ASO or a decent anvil. 4$ a pound might be a bit steep depending on damage from being buried but if it sounds lively and has good rebound then it would be worth considering (remember that negotiating is half the fun ) On a side note, if the O is actually a C it could be a columbian (a good brand), this is about the only brand i can think of that has a design like the one you are describing.

well this one is gunna be fun my "shop" is outside our barn so my forge anvil and vise are all outside, so the first thing i do is remove the 3ft of snow off of everything and shovel or pack down a trail to my coal (in a small shed next to the barn) after i get all the snow moved and my trails packed i start my forge (i cover it with an old piece of tin) so i can warm up and start bringing my hammers and stuff out. the hardest part for me is thawing out the water bucket. usually i wear a coat, hat, gloves, and insulated boots when i get out there but after i start forging the layers start to come off and i am usually in either just a T shirt or sweatshirt depending on how cold it is. a couple times i managed to keep my coat on but it was about -10F if i remember correctly.

i was thinking the same thing lol im half tempted to try and make some "custom" fasteners for it but hunting season is preventing me from playing on the forge

thanks! the wood working is the hardest part for me, i tend to go to fast and ruin things. the woods not perfect but i didnt try to "fix" it by ruining it this time so im happy lol. figure as long as i learn something from the mistakes its all good. as for edge sharpening i cheat and use a lansky sharpening system to get an even grind. after a while i got used to feeling the grind though so i dont use the guide too much anymore except for establishing a grind on a new knife